Who was the liar, Paddy?

Paddy Ashdown accusing someone else of being a liar is rather like Jose Mourinho accusing someone of being a bad loser. Yet incredibly, the former Imperial Consul of Bosnia did just that, in the Indie on Monday. The lies that Ashdown told when he testified at The Hague against Milosevic are on the public record- in the transcripts of the trial . He must obviously be banking, as all the other reptiles who have been queuing up to kick a dead man this week are, that no-one will ever bother to read them.

Here's my letter of response.

Dear Sir/Madam,
‘His biggest advantage was the ability to lie straight into your face’ says Paddy Ashown of the late Slobodan Milosevic (Independent, 13th March 2006). But if readers would care to read the transcript of Ashdown’s testimony to the Hague Tribunal, (url: hague.bard.edu/past_video?09-2005.html) they can come to their own conclusions as to who was doing the lying. Not long before his death, Milosevic showed a video in court in which Ashdown could be seen inspecting a Kosovan Liberation Army weapons cache. Ashdown could be heard promising he would 'do his best' to get the terrorist group assistance. 'The kind of closure’ which Milosevic’s death provides is extremely convenient for many people- not least Ashdown himself.

Yours faithfully,
Neil Clark,